As a concluding comment on my last post Success Planning – 10 Steps to Success – 6. Personal Development I suggested that you could ask other people to help you with your development, especially where they have specialist skills and knowledge that you wish to learn. That is one way of getting help from others to help you to achieve and succeed.

This topic is perhaps not one that might spring to mind if you were asked about actions or activities that can help you achieve your goals. However, I’d suggest it is one that we use often, yet do so without giving it much thought. I particularly like the approach adopted by Andy Gilbert (@AndyGoMAD) the founder of GoMAD Thinking, who says this is one of the areas where you can think most laterally; more about that in a little bit.

What reasons might you have for getting help from others?

There are a number of good reasons why you might wish to get help from others, here are a few that I scribbled down:

  • Experience: They have done what you want to do
  • Expertise: They are experts in the area you want to explore
  • Resources: They have people and/or equipment that you would like to use
  • Influence: They can help to make things happen
  • Skills/Knowledge: They have skills/knowledge that you wish to use
  • Support/Accountability: They can support you or help to hold you accountable for getting things done
  • Kudos/Credibility
  • Financial Backing: Provide finance to get things moving
  • Access: they can give you access to others who can provide any/all of these

There’s a few to get you thinking. How many more can you think of?

Who might you get involved?

When you think around this area, I expect the people that jump into your mind are people that you know directly; Family, friends, work colleagues past and present, neighbours. Perhaps then you may stretch it a little further to your school/college/university friends, professional bodies, suppliers, customers and other network contacts. Then ofcourse, if you are active on social networking sites there are some more possibilities.

Now, how about these for some ideas that Andy Gilbert asks you to consider; Anybody who has ever lived, many people have left lasting legacies: Authors, Poets, Mathematicians, Physicists etc. By reading books, using theories you are effectively involving others. The piece de resistance from Andy though is ‘People who have never lived’, bet that one has got you thinking! Have you ever considered, in trying to solve a problem, thinking about it how a detective such as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple might for example?

Who might be able to help you with your goals?

How can you involve others?

Once again, there are lots of ways that you can get others ‘involved’. Here are a few to give you some ideas ask them, pay them, offer something in return for their help, read their books, search for their information on the internet… Some of these will get you ‘direct’ involvement, others provide remote or indirect involvement. However, ultimately you are calling upon others to achieve what you have set out to do and succeed.

As you develop your vision and goals, take some time to think of areas where you might benefit from getting other people involved? Who could possibly help you? How can you get them involved?

kelsey and abby climbing
Creative Commons License photo credit: joguldi